It occasionally happens, though on Vintage Collection figures it's certainly an unwelcome anomaly. That said, we've entered the era of figures with only 5 - 8 points of articulation where they have ball-jointed necks but swivel everything else and no elbows, knees or ankles.

For me I could do without 14 or 15 points of articulation on an action figure of the librarian of the Jedi Archives, an old lady who shuffles around with a big brown purse. But you know how the collecting community is....unless they can reenact scenes from Kill Bill with her they aren't happy.

Darth Maul? A Stormtrooper? I expect 14 or 15. A character whose most exciting action is to point Ewan McGregor to a shelf or table? Not vital.

I used to love ball jointed hips on Marvel Legends. Then I started collecting DC Universe Classics, and realized just how cumbersome they are for posing. The double-cut hips that DCUC uses gives pretty much the same level of poseability without the ridiculous amount of fidgeting around to get the ball in just the right position to even make the leg go forward.

Most ball-jointed hips are definitely overrated. The first Vintage Collection version of the Sandtrooper (VC14, the one with the white pauldron and clean armor) has them and it's supposed to help him sit astride a Dewback, but when you bend his legs out to mount him on one he looks ridiculous and completely unnatural. It looks like he's doing a painful split on the poor lizard's back.

Finally have some pictures ready - and for once I can actually contribute pictures. First up is Fall of Cybetron Soundwave, which I honestly think is a pretty nice figure. Some fans have complained about the size relative to other figures in the line, but he's roughly about the same size as G1 Soundwave, so it's not an issue for me. The mold is a scaled up and modified version of the War for Cybertron Soundwave.

Vehicle mode. Soundwave transforms into what's called an armored communications vehicle, and I have to say I like this design in both scales. While the minority of G1 characters who didn't have actual vehicles occupy a special place for me, it's nice to see Soundwave having a more mobile form. His launching mechanism works in this mode too.

Robot mode. A lot of G1 elements, and the posability is nice. While the WFC mold came with a weapon that could split into halves, representing Soundwave's G1 weapons, this version only comes with the shoulder weapon. It was supposed to include a rifle similar to Optimus Prime's G1 weapon, but this was apparently cut for costs at the last minute. I used Getaway's weapon here since it's the right size and color.

Stored discs. Ratbat is in front, with Laserbeak and Ravage behind him. Since this causes the aforementioned backpack problems, it looks better from the front.

Soundwave is naturally more fun with his minions, and I think that's one of the pluses. He comes with Laserbeak, while the Japanese version has him painted as Buzzsaw instead (as was the case with G1). There are also two twin packs currently available, Frenzy (colored red) and Ratbat and Rumble (colored blue) and Ravage. They come with little Decepticon cases and turn into data discs instead of micro cassettes.

"Soundwave superior. Generics goofy."

Here are the generic Transformers I found. As one might expect, they're very basic and have somewhat weak construction, with the limbs just being ball joints.

These two include an SR-71 type plane and what seems to be a turboprop bomber. The bomber's nose is a separate piece that attaches to the left arm, which has no hand. Whether that means it's supposed to be a weapon isn't clear, but those propellers are rather awkward in robot mode.

The other pair includes a helicopter robot and a jet robot, who vaguely resembles the Bayformer version of Starscream. The helicopter robot is the only one who seems to have paint variations on the packaging, on the lower legs (unpainted on the actual figure).

Here is the front of the card. I have no idea if Generic Tank Guy is part of the line or just used for the packaging, since I didn't see any carded versions. He seems to turn into the six-wheeled tank at lower right (these corner vehicles were partially hidden by the bubbles), and it's not clear if the tank at lower left is another figure or just a stock vehicle. The "combined" robot is just a black version of GTG, and it's interesting that he has matching arms and legs (twin spy planes and bombers). Does that mean only those two are meant to combine, or were they just lazy on the photography?

Here is the back of the card, showing tech specs and instructions for the four flying robots. Generic Tank Guy isn't included, which is one reason I'm curious as to his actual existence. The helicopter bot oddly uses both color variations in his instructions, with red or black on the lower legs.

And finally the liner placed in the bubbles. Helicopter bot seems lighter and has a silver face as well as colored legs, and this is the only other place where the combined figure shows up.

Very cool pics, Unicron! I love the packaging. It has kind of a 1980's Hasbro/Mattel vibe to the design and coloring. The figures themselves also have a retro look to them as if they came off the production lines in 1984 instead of recently.

Yeah, one of the nice things about Soundwave I forgot to mention is that his box art also includes the art from the two-packs, which certainly have a G1 theme to them. So Soundwave has all of his minions with him, and I saved that part to stick on the end of my new bookshelf.

I didn't know Big Lots carried this line. I'll have to check my local store to see if they have any newer stuff in their toy aisles. They've actually carried old surplus Star Wars figures in the past but the selection was limited.

In other Star Wars collecting news, Wave 1 of the 2013 Clone Wars line is reported to be hitting retail in the Philippines. The first wave contains the new animated 501st Legion Clone as well as Cyborg Darth Maul along with three or four other figures.

Filipino sightings usually mean U.S. stores won't be too far behind.

As a refresher, here's what the 501st Clone looks like in multilingual European packaging:

Yeah, the 2012 and 2013 figures are meant to be more intense and determined looking. The earlier Clone Wars Obi-Wans had friendlier, more serene expressions that didn't necessarily go well with being an action figure designed for combat play.